The good we do returns ...

Over the last year or better, readers have been told of a Newmarket divided over the money needed to fix or replace the town’s aging high school.

At this year’s town meeting, voters again rejected the idea of building a new school. This time at a cost of more than $42 million

One of the contradictions voters struggled with leading up to that decision is the quality of the education provided to Newmarket’s children.

By all accounts and measures, Newmarket does an admirable job — even with ceilings falling down and space for storage as scarce as hens’ teeth.

We were reminded of this — and why — by a our Sports Editor Mike Whaley and a piece published April 7 titled, “After 42 years, a Newmarket sports season without Jack.”

Writes Whaley:

“Jack Brown coached 42 uninterrupted years at Newmarket High School. Always at least one sport, sometimes two and, some years, even three. He also served as the athletic director for five years.

“The 2013-14 school year is the first in which Brown has not coached a Newmarket team since 1971.”

But Brown’s coaching career — and Brown for that matter — is only part of Newmarket’s success story.

Brown began teaching at the school in 1971 and retired from that part of his career in 2005 — after more than three decades.

And while we won’t — and can’t — take anything away from the kudos Brown deserves, there have been and are more reasons for Newmarket to be proud of what goes on within the walls of the Newmarket Jr./Sr. High School.

You see, Brown’s three-plus decades in the classroom is not an exception. It borders on the rule.

Some are retired like Brown, who does some substitute teaching. Others, after logging decades in Newmarket classrooms, having retired but work part-time. These include John Otash and Art Proulx.

Then there are those still in the classroom, who some many think came with the building in 1925 (just kidding). These include Carol Smart, Pam Caswell and Jim Fabiano.

Of course there are others who fit somewhere on the list of past and present long-timers like Greg Thayer, whose high energy level continued to infect students until the day he left the science lab.

And remember, it’s not just this list that is impressive. Imagine the many thousands of young minds these teachers have infected with a desire to learn and become successful in life.

For those considering teaching as a life’s profession, we urge you to consider the words from “Poem for Ten Fold”: